Improvement in lamp-wicks



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ED WIN B. LARGHAR, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT lN LAM P-WICKS.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, E. B. LARGHAR, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improven ent in Wicks for Lamps and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section of a lampburner, representing a side elevation of the wick, on my improved plan; and Fig. 2, another vertical section of the wick and its holder, taken at the line A a of Fig. 1.

The same letters indicate like parts in both figures.

The object of my invention is to produce a durable wick for lamps generally, but speciallyforburning fluids rich in carbon; and to this end my said invention consists in formin g the upperend of the wick, where the flame is produced, of asbestus, contained in a previous holder, so as to resist the action of the flame, in combination with ordinary woven wicking, or the equivalent thereof, extending from the asbestus down into the liquid in the reservoir of the lamp, that such liquid may be carried up freely by capillary attraction.

In the accompanying drawings, a and 1) represent the reservoir and burner of an ordinary lamp, and c a piece of ordinary flat cotton wickin g, the lower part of which is to extend down into the oil or other liquid in the reservoir. The upper end of this wicking c is insorted and sechred by sewing or otherwise into the lower end of a short and flat metallic tube, d, the sides of which are slotted down from the upper edge, so as to present on each side a series of narrow tongues, which I prefer to make of a wedge shape, thinnest at the upper end. The space in the metallic tube 01, above the upper end of the cotton wick c, is filled up with asbestus, packed in sufficiently to remain in place, but not so compact as to prevent capillary attraction. I prefer to use fibrous asbestus with the fibers broken up, taking care not toreduce it to a fine powder. After being washed clean and packed into the tube, it will not drop out, and yet the interstices between the particles will be suflicient for the passage of the fluid from the cotton wicking to the flame. The short tube d can be fitted to the inside of a tube, 6, attached to the cap of the lamp so as to slide therein for adjustment of the flame, or it may be secured in a fixed position, and the deflector f made adjustable, and although I have described the tube at or holder as being made of'metal, slotted down for some distance from the upper edge, I do not wish to be understood as limiting my claim of invention to such mode of construction, nor to the making it of metal, as it may be made of wire-cloth, or of perforated sheet metal, or of other substance which will preserve its form and hold the asbestus and wicking, and although I prefer to use the asbestus in the manner described, I do not wish to be understood as limiting my claim thereto, as the tube or holder may be filled with woven asbestus, as my invention does not consist in the special mode of constructing the holder, or in the mode of fillingit with asbestus, but in combining a holder containing asbt stus for the part of the wick exposed to the flame, with common cotton, or equivalent wicking possessing considerable capillary attraction to extend down from the asbestus to the oil or other liquid for the free supply thereof to the flame.

By the above combination I am enabled to produce lamp-wicks which will last for a considerable length of time without requiring to be trimmed daily and frequently renewed, which will not carbonize so as to choke the supply of fluid to the lamp, and which at the same time will possess the requisite capillary attraction to supply the flame from a reservoir below the burner.

What I claim as my invention for the wicks of lamps is- The holder containing asbestus, substantially as described, in combination with common wicking extending down into the reservoir of the lamp, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

EDWIN B. LARGHAR.

Witnesses:

WM. H. BISHOP, ANDREW I. TODD. 

